King of Hearts
by shadowno
Summary: Reno never really cared much for anyone else, save his long time friend Rude. But now, as he slowly starts to find his eyes following the only female turk, he finds that his image as a bad boy is at risk.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The smoke dulled all the light that surrounded the table, the four men sitting around each eyed the others suspiciously. The redhead smirked as he noticed the beads of sweat that had formed on each of their heads. Knowing what the situation the others were in, Reno's eyes flicked to his cards. The 10 jack queen ace 4 in his hand was a beautiful flush, definitely a winning hand. However, for Reno, winning was never enough. He placed the four of hearts down, and looked the man sitting across from him.

"Just one, my good man." Reno said, picking his cigar up from the ash tray. Taking a long drag from it, he blew a perfect ring of smoke.

"You know, Reno, the only thing at the table that's bigger than the pot is your ego." One of the men, the dealer said. "You act like your gods gift to everything."

"Not everything, just women. Your woman included." Reno replied with a smirk. He wasn't surprised when his stoic companion made no sign of taking humor in the statement, and definitely not surprised at the glared he received from his joke's victim, but the fourth man immediately flew into a fit of laughter.

"shut up Joe!" The man yelled, punching his friend in the arm. "How many do you want?"

"Just 2" the man said, placing two cards on the table.

"How bout you Rude?"

The bald giant looked at his partner for a moment, and then threw all five cards down.

"Folding huh? Oh well, makes it easier for me to win." The dealer said. Passing each man his cards requested. "So, Reno, why do you think your god's gift to women then?" dealer asked, setting down his full house. The second man cursed, throwing down his card. Reno leaned back, taking another drag from his cigar. Slowly, he picked up the card laying on the table, peered at it.

"Because." Reno said, laying the four cards in his hand down, and holding the fifth up, slowly turning it. "I'm the King of Hearts." He finished, revealing his royal flush. "Well, at least I have enough money to be the king." he said, gathering the pot and sliding it towards him.

"You god damned cheater!" The dealer said, standing up.

"Hey!" Reno said, standing up as well. "I only cheat at women and tests, not cards. That's because tests only matter once, and the women all come crawling back." The redhead once again dawned his trademark smirk, and turned to the giant next to him. "Come on Rude, Tseng is going to kill us for showing up for work at 2 in the afternoon.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Reno, I have no idea what to do with you." Tseng said, standing up from his desk.

"You could give me a raise." Reno suggest innocently. The stare Tseng gave him in response told him it was a no.

"You show up late, everyday." Tseng said. "It keeps getting later and later. Today, you made Rude late too. We had to guard Rufus Shinra today. Me and Elena, doing a four man job. It would have been easy for something to go wrong. I can't do this anymore." Tseng said, moving his normally neat hair from his eyes. Reno did this to him every time.

"You firing or not?" Reno asked, unconcerned.

"Of course not, we have no one to replace you with." Tseng said.

"So why bother with calling me in here?" Reno said, turning to leave.

"Cause I'm separating you and Rude. You're with Elena from now on." Tseng said, sitting back down.

"What?" Reno exclaimed, spinning around. "I've worked with Rude since we joined, you can't split us up."

"Rude, unfortunately, thinks highly of you. So highly in fact, that he does whatever you tell him to." Tseng explained. "I'm going to work exclusively with Rude, so that he can be around someone that does their job. Elena is stronger than Rude, and will hopefully show you how you should be doing your job. Take the rest of the Day off, You and Elena are going on a mission tomorrow."

Reno stormed out of the office, going straight to the elevator. He felt wronged, who were they to split him and Rude up? Couldn't he at least work with Tseng? I mean, it was one thing for Tseng to order him around, he was the boss, but Elena? Elena was the youngest Turk, both in age and experience, but she acted like a veteran. Reno rolled his eyes as he thought about her, her cocky attitude, her nagging voice, her nice tight ass... what? Reno shook his head, there was no way he had just thought about her ass. Blinking a few times, he decided it would be best if he turned his thoughts away from her. Getting out on the ground floor of the Shinra building, he walked past the receptionist.

"Hey Reno." The woman called after him, running up to him. "Hi." She said blushing.

Reno smirked, and turned towards her. "Hey Melissa, how's it going?" he asked smoothly.

"Oh my, it's great." She said, breathing heavily. "I was just wondering if you wanted to have dinner together again tonight?"

"I don't know Michelle, I don't know if I need company tonight. I'm kind of upset about something." he lied, drawing her in.

"Oh no, what's wrong baby?" She asked hugging him.

"On second thought, Melanie, maybe I could use someone to comfort me." he said, trapping her.

"Oh, you know what. I'm going to go punch out my time card, and then we can go back to your apartment and I'll make you a nice hot meal." She said, running back to her desk. A few seconds later, she was back with her jacket. "Ready?" she asked. Reno smiled, checking her name tag real quick.

"Yes, Sasha, let's go." he said, taking her hand. Together they walked out of the building.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Reno woke up to Sasha shaking him the next day. Looking around warily, sat up. The was a loud banging coming from the front door of his apartment.

"Someone's at your door, it sounds like they're trying to break it down." She said.

"Alright, I know who it probably is." Reno said, getting out of a bed and walking over to the door nude. He whipped the door open, standing there in all his glory. Elena was caught off guard by this, staring in shock at the naked man in front of her. "yeah, next time be more patient." Reno said, slamming the door in her face. Walking back over to the bed, Reno picked a pair of pants up off the floor.

"Who was it?" Sasha asked.

"Satan, she probably wants me to go to work." Reno said. "That means you gotta get the fuck out." He said, pulling them on.

"Aww, come on hunny." She said, laying back in bed. "We've been dating three months, can't I just sleep in and lock up after I leave?"

==##==

Reno walked away with Elena, leaving Sasha naked holding her clothes in the middle of the hallway. After they exited the apartment complex, Elena spoke.

"Was that necessary? I mean, I don't really care for the whores you take home every night, but leaving one naked and locked out seems harsh." She said.

"Who, Wendy? She can take it, she's a drown woman." Reno explained.

"If I recognized her correctly, I believe that was Sasha, the receptionist." Elena pointed out.

"Oh, right. That's what I said, Sasha."

"Well, either way I'm happy you used up that one." Elena said. "Happy for the girl that is."

"What are you talking about?" Reno asked, stopping. "Used her up? I'm the king of hearts. It's not the first time I've kicked her out. The woman love me."

"Yeah, of course." Elena responded, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I think we need to go directly to the office to get our mission for today."

"No, we need to go to Alex's for some pancakes." Reno corrected matter of factly, walking in the direction of the diner.

"Um, Mr Reno. We should really go straight to headquarters. We're already two minutes behind schedule."

"Elena, just because they call them blond bimbos doesn't mean you have to be one. Besides, I doubt it's natural."

Elena stopped, annoyed. "and what the hell does that mean?" she demanded.

Reno turned around, and put on his best impersonation of an English accent. "I'm saying that the carpet doesn't match the drapes, love." he said, then dropping the accent added "At least not judging by those black roots coming out your head." And with that, he turned back around continuing his journey for pancakes. Elena, grabbing her hair, screamed as she went after him.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"He's Crude, he's inconsiderate, he's lazy, he never shuts up." Elena ranted, standing in front of Tseng's desk. Currently, she was trying to reason with Tseng to separate her and Reno as a team. "Why can't I work with you?"

"Because, Reno is corrupting Rude, and I don't want a great Turk to end up like Reno."

"Ok, fine, I'll work with Rude."

"No..."

"Why not? Surely you could do better at making Reno understand the meaning of being a Turk better than I can?"

"Because I don't want to work with him, he's everything I hate. The only reason I hired him was because I knew that he had what it takes to get on the streets and learn what we need to do. More of less, he's a great operative, but a horrible Turk. You have what he needs to learn, and a the same time, learn from him."

"Sir?" Elena asked, confused. What could Reno possibility know that she didn't. Almost as if reading her mind, Tseng answered her question.

"You need to learn how to work on the street, you are great at our missions, but what about our... less public operations?"

Elena nodded, realizing that her professionalism could possibly ruin a mission that wasn't to go on records. She was great at security, and spying, but kidnapping? Murder?

"I know I'm rusty at some of our black operations, but..."

"Your first mission with Reno is to kidnap a former Soldier in sector 3. You are dismissed." Tseng said, sitting down and picking up the phone.

"But Tseng..." Elena complained.

"I said dismissed." Tseng said, his voice making it clear that he had made his final decision. Exasperated, Elena left the office, walking though the floor that was designated to Shinra security Rude passed by her, and Elena stopped him.

"Hey, could you talk to Tseng about switching the teams back to normal?" She asked hopefully, but was let down when his response was a shrug, and then he walked away. "You big, bald, mute." Elena curse him under her breath.

"That's not nice." A voice said behind her. She turned around finding herself face to face with the Redhead.

"Reno..." Elena gasped, caught off guard. "What's not nice?"

"Insulting my friends." Reno said. Seeing her look of confusion, he added, "Oh, I can read lips. Surprise."

"Well, read this." She said, mouthing the words fuck you, and stormed off.

"where are you going? We have a mission." Reno said, jogging to catch up to her.

"Leave me alone!" Elena said, her voice stern.

God she's sexy when she's pissed, Reno thought to himself before banishing the thought from his mind. What was wrong with him lately? "I can't leave you alone, let's just go, pick up the guy, and come bring him back so I can go home."

"Fine. The sooner the better." Elena spat, hitting the down button on the elevator.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Reno had to force himself repeatedly to tear his eyes away from Elena's ass as they walked through Midgar, heading for their target's last known where abouts. They were to kidnap a former SOLDIER who was wanted for allegedly going absent without leave. There were also rumors about him selling secrets to the anti-Shinra groups around Midgar. Stuff like planned missions, security details, and another top secret item, which Reno had found rumors from his sources reporting were Rufus Shinra's favorite tie.

"You better be keeping up." Elena complained, not breaking her stride. "We're almost there."

They were heading to a bar that the rogue was reported to be seen at, hoping that he'd be there and they could avoid having to find him. Elena had to admit, as scummy as Reno was, he did know how to find the right information. Two phone calls, and they had a place where the target was reportedly to regularly be, a small bar in sector 3. A few more minutes of walking, and they arrived that the bar. As they reached the door, Elena stopped.

"You wait here." She said, it sounded like and order to Reno.

"Uh huh, you going to capture him by yourself?" Reno said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I'm not a moron like you. I plan to reason with him, and talk him into coming back in with us." Elena said, spinning and entering the door. Reno calmly pulled out his EMR, and waited. Sure enough, a loud bang sounded followed by some screams only seconds later. He burst into the bar, and was unsurprised to find Elena held as a shield with her own gun being pressed against her head. The man holding her had a weathered look, definitely an ex SOLDIER.

"Stay back mother fucker, I'll blow this bitches head off!" The target threatened, pressing the pistol firmly against Elena's head.

Reno felt his heart skip a beat in his chest. What if Elena was injured or worse? Reno knew he had no time to think of it now. He began walking towards the man, who started to panic, he was obviously drunk. As reno got within 10 feet of the man, he spoke again.

"I said stay back!" He said, pointing the gun at Reno.

Now is my chance, she's out of harms way. Reno though to himself, lunging at the man. The man pulled the trigger, and a bottle shattered somewhere behind Reno's head. Reno struck out with his rod, knocking the gun out of the man's hand. Shocked, he released Elena, who stumbled away. Reno's second hit caught the man across the face, causing him too to stumble. Charging his rod, Reno slammed it into the man's spine, sending a shock throughout him. The man collapsed, temporarily paralyzed. Once he was sure the target was down for the count, he turned his attention to Elena. She was staring at him, her opinion of him great changed. After all, he had probably saved her life just then.

"Are you ok?" Reno asked, masking his true concern.

"Yeah." Elena said, brushing herself off. "How did you know he wouldn't just shoot me when you approached.

Reno shrugged in response. "Let's get him back to HQ."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Elena found herself a little more roughed up than she through when they got back to the Shinra building. Sporting a black eye, and busted lip, she headed back up to the Turk floor while Reno delivered the target to the "interviewers" for questioning. She managed to force a smile at the thought of the asshole getting tortured, even if it wasn't for making her bleed. Luckily, Tseng and Rude weren't in the office when she arrived. Not knowing what else to do, she sat at her desk and began to go through paper work. Five minutes later, Reno found himself in the elevator, heading for the offices.

"Why am I thinking about Elena so much?" He asked himself out loud. "I mean, she's everything I'm against. She's from a rich background, she's snotty, she's freaking blond, she's beauti... NO! No, she's butchy, whiny, annoying Elena... I'm completely in love with her. So, now that I admit that, what do I do? I could completely ignore this, and go on like normal. Yeah, that's what I'll do." Reno said, reaching a decision. A few seconds later, the elevator reached his floor, and he got out. Walking through the halls, he reached the office and entered. Seeing Elena bent over her desk, he was glad she didn't seem in a talkative mood. Walking past her to his own cluttered desk, he was just about to sit down when he couldn't help it. He looked up, and saw her face as it was lowered, studying the papers. He could see the bright red on her lip, and knew that she had gone straight to work, ignoring her wounds, no matter how minor. The next thing he knew, before he could stop it, he was over next to her desk with a cloth. She looked up when she noticed him, but drew away quickly when he pressed the cloth to her lip, catching her off guard.

"Quit squirming." Reno said, grabbing her head and pressing the cloth to the bleeding lip. "Hold that there until the bleeding stops." Then, ignoring her protests, he walked back over to his desk, and opened the bottom drawer, in which he hid his mini fridge. Pulling one of the cold cans from inside, he walked back over to her and put it against her black eye. "And hold that there to get the swelling to go down." Reno said, sitting down on her desk.

"I.. uh... thanks." Elena managed to say. Reno couldn't help but chuckle at her, she looked like a moron holding the can and cloth against her face. "Listen, about the mission today..."  
"Don't worry about it." Reno cut her off. He then stood up, and mocked what a Turk should look like when reporting to Tseng. "We found him, blah blah blah, he beat my ass, Elena saved the day. Whatever." Once he had finished his mock presentation, he sat back down. "Don't worry, I always look bad anyways."

"Thanks..." Elena said, feeling slightly ashamed for letting him take the fall. Suddenly, the room went silents as her eyes caught his. She had no idea what it was, but she felt as if something was drawing her closer to him. Taking the cloth from her lips, stood. She began to lean slowly towards him, and Reno, sensing what she wanted, couldn't help but do the same.

Suddenly, they heard the office door open. Panicking, Elena quickly searched for an explanation of Reno and her positions, and chose decisive actions. Shoving him as hard as she could, she yelled.

"Get the hell off my desk Reno! God, you're such a slob." Reno rolled off backward off the desk, hitting his head loudly on the floor. Elena was forced to hide her grimace at what she had just done.

"Reno, stay off Elena's desk." Tseng said from the doorway, entering the room. Reno quickly looked back and forth between Rude and Tseng at the door, and Elena staring at him.

"Whatever." Reno said, returning to his own desk and sitting down. Placing his feet up on his desk, he was out in five minutes.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It was late that evening when Reno found himself being shook awake. Looking around, he was startled when he found Elena standing next to him. Was she blushing?

"Hey, Tseng and Rude left for the night." She said.

"Great, I over slept." Reno said, standing up. "I can finally go home."

"I was wondering..." Elena said, before stopping herself. She looked away from him.

Why is she acting like a shy schoolgirl? Reno asked himself. "You were wondering what?"

"Um, seeing as we're partners now, maybe we should go to dinner to get to know each other better." She said, sheepishly.

"What, like a date?" Reno asked, a smirk spreading on his lips.

"NO!" Elena practically yelled. "to get to know each other better."

"Fine, call the date whatever you want. Sure, we can go out." Reno said.

"It's not a date!" Elena screamed at him. "Fuck off!" She stormed back to her desk and sat down. Reno calmly got up, and walked to the door of the office. Stopping next to it, he turned back towards her.

"You coming?" He asked.

Elena was silent for a moment, turning to glare at him. "Fine!" she said, standing up and walking over to him. Together they took the elevator down to the lobby together, and Elena walked towards the exit but stopped when Reno went the other way.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Well, if it's not a date, I'm not going anywhere special. That new restaurant just opened two days ago over here and I figured we go there." he explained.

"What? That place? That's not a restaurant! It's fast food!" Elena protested.

"Keyword, food." Reno said, walking away.

"AH! RENO!" Elena protested, running after him. "Can't we go somewhere nice?"

"Why, it's not a date or anything like that." Reno said mockingly.

"Reno..." Elena began to protest, but gave up. She wanted, and she knew he knew she wanted, a nice date with him, but Reno was so damn stubborn. "Whatever." she said.

"Alright, now you're starting to sound like me." Reno said.

"AH, don't say that!" Elena argued.

"Whatever." Reno said, smirking. "See, we even use the same terms."

"Gah! Let's just get this over with." Elena said, storming into the fast food place in front of Reno. Five minutes later, they were sitting at a table. Elena's food went untouched as the redhead sitting across from her literally stuffed his third cheeseburger into his mouth, along with half a dozen more fries.

"Why aren't you eating?" Reno said, his mouth full, but trying to shove another handful of fries in with the rest of the food.

Elena had to suppress a gag. "I'm just no that hungry." She said.

"Fine." Reno said, grabbing her burger and shoving it in his mouth with the other one. "More for me..." Reno added, before starting to choke. Spitting a huge glob of chewed up food, he swallowed what was in his mouth before grabbing the glob, and shoving it back in.

"I think I'll just go." Elena said, getting up and leaving the restaurant. "I'll see you tomorrow Reno.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Elena walked down the street briskly, holding back the tears that she so desperately needed to shed. It was ridiculous, only twelve hours earlier, she hated the man. Now, she was so upset that he couldn't take a single thing seriously. Not even her trying to spend time with him. What did she have to do, advertise her feelings on the TV?

"Elena, wait!" She heard him call behind her. She turned to see him jogging to catch up with her. "Let's talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about, Reno. I was stupid to think that you could ever take something serious, even if it was my feelings for you." Elena said.

"What feelings? You've denied everything." Reno pointed out. "Maybe if you would actually admit something for once, I'd act differently. Do you think that they'll go unanswered? Did you forget how close we came to..." Reno drifted off.

"I know, but we didn't." Elena said, knowing he was talking about the kiss they almost shared. "Maybe it wasn't supposed to happen."

"Well, then this is." Reno said, grabbing her shoulders and pressing his lips against hers. Elena struggled, caught of guard, but soon let herself be over taken, kissing him back. After what seemed like and eternity, they broke away from each other. Reno smirked, but his eyes flew open when he saw the hand flying at his face. The sound of skin slapping skin filled the night air, as Reno actually stumbled back from the force of Elena's blow.

"You could of warned me you were going to do that!" Elena yelled, grabbing his hand and pulling him after her.

Reno, confused and aching from the blow, let himself be pulled along after her. After awhile, they arrived at a small house, and Elena pulled him inside.

"Nice place." Reno said, looking around the clean living room.

"Shut up." Elena said, pushing him down onto the couch. Quickly pulling off her jacket, she sat down on his lap, facing him. Fiercely, she pressed her lips against his. They kissed like that for a few minutes, before Reno finally managed to break the kiss.

"Woah, woah. Calm down, where is this coming from." Reno asked, staring at her shocked.

"Just because I act like a frigid bitch doesn't mean I am one." Elena said, kissing him again. Once again, Reno pulled away.

"You don't have to do this to impress me." He explained. "I mean, I don't know why, but you're special to me."

"Oh yeah, you're so great I'm forcing myself to have sex with you. Never mind that I haven't had sex in over two years and at this point I'd screw that creep Hojo. Just take it as it is, and we'll discuss details in the morning." Elena said, kissing Reno again.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Reno awoke the next day, his first sight being wonderful. He watched silently as Elena, clad only in her bra and panties, bent over. He got a great view of her ass as she pulled her slacks on. She turned, grabbing her shirt of the bed when she noticed him.

"Get dressed, we have to go into work." She said.

Reno sat up in the bed, the sheet falling from his bare chest. Pulling the sheet off of him, he stood up, revealing himself to Elena.

"Nice." Elena said, eying his body.

"Of course it is." Reno said, smirking. He grabbed his slacks and pulled them on. Then he turned around, looking for his shirt, when he saw the red stains on the bed. Placing his hands on his back, he felt the scratches on his back. "What are you, a fucking werewolf?" Reno said, chuckling.

Elena finished buttoning up her shirt, and then picked his up off the dresser and threw it at him. "Shut up, you ass!" She said, just as playfully.

Still smirking, Reno slid on the shirt and began to button it. "At least I know I was good." He said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, so you were good." Elena said, finishing her tie, and then putting on her jacket. "And just what are you going?" She asked, staring at Reno.

"Um, getting dressed?" Reno said, confused.

"Oh my god, stop it." Elena said, frustrated. She walked over to him, and pushed his arms to the side. "Little hint, the bottom button goes in the bottom slit." She joked, completely undoing Reno's shirt, and then buttoning it again, the right way.

"You know that I'm an adult right?" Reno teased.

"Shut up, when you dress like an adult I'll treat you like one." She said, She finished buttoning up his shirt, and then looked around for his tie.

"You treated me like an adult last night." Reno said. "Either that, or your a pervert."

"Ha ha, very funny. You weren't complaining you know. Where the hell is your... oh right, you don't wear one. Let me think... Oh, right." She said, and then walked over to her dresser. Pulling the top drawer open, she pulled one of her spares out of it, and walked back over to Reno. "Look at me." She said, wrapping the tie around his neck. She finished tying it, and then stepped back. Then,.picking his jacket off the floor, she put it on him and buttoned it. "There, you look good for once."

"I always look good." Reno said, looking into the mirror. "Now I look like a dork!"

A hard punch from Elena shut him up.

"What's wrong with looking presentable for once?" Elena argued. "You always have to be such a slob. Let's just keep you nice today, and we'll see what happens."

Reno rolled his eyes. "Fine, but only because I want to spend the night here again tonight." He said.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Elena was walking through the halls of the Shinra building, on her way back from lunch with Reno. Reno had gone out to find some information for an up coming mission, so Elena entered the office alone. Tseng was also sitting in there alone, and looked up when she entered.

"Good news." He said, standing up. "You're back with me."

"What! Why?" Elena burst out, causing Tseng to raise an eyebrow.

"I saw Reno this morning, you cleaned him up good." Tseng explained. "You got him to come in early too. Should that continue, I see no reason why you should have to continue to suffer as his partner. I sent Rude out of give him the good news."

"I... uh." Elena began, thinking quickly. "I don't think Reno is ready sir. He's still as useless as ever, I think that with a little more time..."

"Let's be honest." Tseng said, walking over to Elena. "There's no one I'd rather work with than you." As he said this, he placed his hand on her arm.

"Oh, um, well..." Elena stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"You don't have to say anything." Tseng said, leaning forward to kiss her. Panicking, Elena pulled away.

"No." Elena said, disgusted. "That is so unprofessional." She then turned and quickly left the office, leaving Tseng standing there, dumbfounded.

==##==

Meanwhile, miles away, Reno ran through the back alleys of Midgar, hot on the heals of the young man whom he wished to talk to. Reno hated the way the guy always ran, they both knew how it would end in the long run. Sure enough, only moments later, Reno tackled the youth's legs, sending them both to the ground.

"Get off me man!" The teen cried. Reno climbed to his feet, and grabbed the teen by the collar, pulling him to his as well.

"Why do you always run, you know I always catch you." Reno said, annoyed but smirking.

"Whatever man, what do you want this time?" The teen said, wiping himself off.

"I want a ring, something cheep but fancy." Reno said.

"What, you getting married or something?"

"No, just a present, something that shows how I feel. What do you say, can you hook me up?"

"Yeah, for twenty thousand Gil, I'll hook you up."

"Good." Reno said, fishing out the money. "What you got."

"Well, it's not the best, but it's a diamond." The teen answered, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a ring, showing it to Reno.

"Perfect." Reno said, snatching it. "Take you're money." Reno said, tossing the money clip to the kid, and walking away.

"Hey man! This is only ten grand!"

"Take it up with Shinra, how I bought your stolen ring." Reno taunted, leaving the alley. He was surprised when he found Rude waiting for him. "Rude? What are you going here?" he asked, confused.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Reno and Rude walked through the streets of Midgar, heading back for the Shinra building. Reno still couldn't believe that he and Elena had been split up so quickly. It wasn't that he didn't like his Rude, but it wasn't the same as being teamed with Elena. Well, he'd fix Tseng up real quick, Reno planned to cause so much trouble, Tseng would be forced to put him back with Elena as a punishment, or so he would think. Suddenly, both Reno and Rude's phones rang. Picking them up, they read the text message. "Get back to HQ asap sos." Reno and Rude looked at each other, and then bolted down the street, running full speed back to the Shinra building.

==##==

five minutes earlier, back at the Shinra building, Elena walked through the hall heading for the elevator. She was disgusted by the events, being placed back on a team with Tseng, Tseng trying to kiss her. She hit the elevator call button just as the alarm rang out.

"Attention all security personel, we have an escaped prisoner. We repeat, there is an escaped prisoner."

"I really don't want to deal with this right now." Elena said, hitting the call button again impatiently. Finally, the elevator arrived, but it wasn't empty. Quickly, the man reached out and grabbed Elena, pulling her into the elevator as the door slid closed.

"Fancy seeing you again." The soldier said, holding her hostage as the elevator again started to go down towards the lobby.

==##==

"Tseng, what's going on?" Reno asked through the cell phone as he and Rude arrived at the grounds of the Shinra building.

"That soldier that you and Elena brought in broke out of his cell. We can't find him anywhere. What's worse is we can't find Elena either." Tseng said. "Where are you?"

"Rude and I are just outside, we're..." Reno said, breaking off as he saw Elena and the Soldier emerge from the entrance to the building. "Tseng, get down here. They're outside!" He said, hanging up the phone and running at the two people, Rude right behind him. "Elena!"

"Reno!" Elena said, seeing him. The soldier quickly pulled her even tighter to him, and raised his weapon, aiming it at Reno.

"You again!" The soldier yelled angrily as he aimed at Reno. Without warning, he pulled the trigger. The bullet exploded out of the gun, flying through the air, and hit Reno. Reno spun as the bullet hit his shoulder, falling the ground. Rude had no choice but to dive for cover as the soldier fired a second shot.

"Reno!" Elena cried out, and began struggling against the man holding her hostage. Still, the soldier held fast, not letting her go. "What would Reno do?" Elena thought to herself quickly, and then it dawned on her. Summoning all her strength, she kicked backwards, sending her foot straight up between his legs. "Reno!" She screamed, now free. She ran to his unmoving form.

"You bitch!" The soldier yelled, raising his gun and aiming at her back. The next moment happened the a flash. Elena running towards Reno, Rude emerging from behind some crates to ambush the soldier. Reno jumped to his feet in less than a second, and threw his EMR through the air. It flew past Elena, missing her by inches and shot towards the soldier. It struck his weapon, knocking it from his hand just as Rude reached him with one punch sent him crashing to the ground. Rude and the soldier started to struggle on the ground when Tseng and a group of guards emerged from the building, their weapons drawn.

"Don't move!" Tseng ordered the soldier, who stopped struggling.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

In the aftermath of what had occurred, Reno sat in the back of an ambulance having his wounds tended to. Standing just outside, Elena was taking a mile a minute, well, yelling at Reno about what he had done. Reno, of course, was ignoring her.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" Elena demanded.

"Yup." Reno said, jumping from the truck, despite the the paramedics protests. "Got it, foolhardy, stupid, inconsiderate."

"You just don't get it do you?" Elena said, exasperated. "If I would of lost you..." She said, completely aware of the eyes on her, some shocked by this statement. "I don't know what I would do. I need you Reno, and if you would of got killed..."

"I didn't die, Laney." Reno said, trying to calm her down.

"Just a few inches..." Elena began, but Reno cut her off

"yeah, a few inches off and it would of completely missed."

"You would of died!"

"You didn't specify which direction." Reno pointed out, reaching into his pocket.

"Gah, you are so annoying. I don't know why I, or anyone for the matter, puts up with you." she said, and then quickly turned to the crowd around her. "Go mind your own fucking business and leave us alone." She said, causing them to quickly disperse. When she turned back around, she was shocked by the sight before her.

"Wh... what's that." Elena said, eying the small box in Reno's hand.

"On second thought, I'm not ready." Reno said, smirking. He quickly turned and started walking away, Elena staring at him dumbfounded.

"Reno! Reno, what's in the box? Reno!" She screamed before running off after him.

==##==

Four months later, Reno and Elena stared into each other's eyes as they stood at the alter. As the vows were read, Reno took the ring from Rude, and prepared to put the ring upon Elena's finger. For a man who had escaped death so many times, he had never felt so nervous as he had at that moment. This turned to be unfortunate, as just at that time, a phone went off in the crowd. The sudden noise caught Reno off guard, and even with it being ever so slight, his hand jerked hard enough that the ring flew from his sweaty fingers and over the ledge. Reno quickly looked from the ledge, to Elena. Elena, knowing Reno well, knew what he was thinking.

"I'd say it's not worth it, but I know you well enough to know that won't stop you." She said, causing a smirk to spread on his lips. Grabbing a strand of lights that decorated the alter constructed in the Shinra's building helipad, Reno lept over the edge in pursuit of the ring.

The End


End file.
